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Once NASA's InSight lander touches down on the surface of Mars, it will use a seismometer to measure "Marsquakes," and a self-hammering heat probe will burrow five meters below the surface to study the internal heat of the planet.

NASA Will Attempt Its Eighth Mars Landing on Monday

Touching down on the surface of the Red Planet is one of the most difficult engineering challenges ever attempted, and InSight is about to give it a go

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Ingenious Minds

Jose Gomez-Marquez Wants to Turn Doctors and Nurses into Makers

Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter interviews the co-founder of MIT’s Little Devices Lab about democratizing health technology

More like something out of a dream than a part of daily life, that weekend indelibly imprinted scenes in American memory: the riderless horse, the rat-a-tat-tat of the muffled drums, the brave widow, the toddler saluting his father’s casket.

How Poetry Soothed a Nation in Mourning for John F. Kennedy

First the jolt of shock, then a shroud of sadness struck the nation in the weeks following that fateful day

The Kiss In the privacy of the narrow hallway under the fire stairs of the Mosque Theater, while other performers are on stage before 3,000 fans in the audience, Elvis is concentrating on his date for the day.

How Photographer Alfred Wertheimer Captured Elvis Presley’s Kiss

“I think most of the time Elvis didn’t even know I was taking photographs,” said the photographer, who died in 2014

A figure representing the Kayentatherium babies found with an adult specimen. They are the only known fossils of babies from an extinct mammal relative that lived during the Early Jurassic.

Weasel-Like Fossils Reveal Evolutionary Clues of the First Mammals

A protomammal known as Kayentatherium was discovered with 38 babies in 185-million-year-old rock

The Telharmonium is considered to be the first electromechanical musical instrument.

The World’s First Synthesizer Was a 200-Ton Behemoth

Thaddeus Cahill’s Telharmonium may not have been a huge success, but it was an important achievement in music history

Thanksgiving tells the story of a landmark moment of coexistence, multiculturalism and even neighborliness (above: The First Thanksgiving, 1621, Jean Leon G. Ferris) when Native Americans taught Pilgrims to farm, and shared a meal with them after a successful harvest in 1621.

How an Unremarkable ‘Brunch in the Forest’ Turned Into the Thanksgiving We Know

A new Sidedoor podcast dives into the holiday’s origins

Close up on Atlanta University's "City and Rural Population. 1890" data visualization

Document Deep Dive

W.E.B. Du Bois’ Visionary Infographics Come Together for the First Time in Full Color

His pioneering team of black sociologists created data visualizations that explained institutionalized racism to the world

The “headless chicken monster” is actually a type of sea cucumber.

Science in the Movies

Fantastic Things We Learned This Year About Fantastic Beasts of the Real World

The second iteration of the “Fantastic Beasts” movie series comes out this week, but why wait for the movie when you can get a glimpse of the real thing?

This Apartment-Size Wind Turbine Makes Use of Gusts Coming From All Directions

Winner of this year’s James Dyson Award, the O-Wind Turbine is designed for the chaotic wind patterns of urban environments

An artist’s impression of the newly discovered planet’s surface.

Astronomers Discover Second-Closest Known Exoplanet

The planet, a frozen Super-Earth, orbits Bernard’s Star about six light-years away

Detail of a copy of the Declaration printed by Goddard

Women Who Shaped History

Mary Katharine Goddard, the Woman Whose Name Appears on the Declaration of Independence

Likely the United States’ first woman employee, this newspaper publisher was a key figure in promoting the ideas that fomented the Revolution

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Ingenious Minds

AOL Co-Founder Steve Case Talks With Smithsonian Geologist John Grant About the Search for Life on Mars

In the near future, we are going to know if life exists elsewhere in the universe

The NIST-4 Kibble balance, an electromagnetic weighing machine that is used to measure Planck's constant, and in turn, redefine the kilogram.

Scientists Are About to Redefine the Kilogram and Shake Up Our System of Measures

After more than 100 years of defining the kilogram according to a metal artifact, humanity is preparing to change the unit based on a constant of nature

For Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Ángeles, their dual mission of being a respected musical group and advocating for social equality for the LGBTQ community has won the hearts and minds of many.

How the First LGBTQ Mariachi Became an Outlet for Advocacy

LA musicians Carlos Samaniego and Natalia Melendez do traditional Mexican music their way

Stan Lee Helped Shape the Story of What It Is to Be American

Smithsonian curator Eric Jentsch weighs into the legacy of the comic-book mastermind

“First ladies still tend to be more mysterious than the presidents,” says Smithsonian curator Lisa Kathleen Graddy. “We’re always hoping once the First Lady is out of office (above: Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009) she’s going to let us in a little more.”

History of Now

The History of First Ladies’ Memoirs

Freed from the political constraints of living in the White House, these famous women have over the decades shared their personal opinions with the public

Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee died yesterday at age 95.

A Letter to Stan Lee, Comic Book Legend, Written by One of His Biggest Fans

Movie producer and instructor Michael Uslan eulogizes his hero and mentor, whose superheroes taught him countless life lessons

A brave soul walks on Legos at the U.K. Firewalk

Why Walking on Legos Hurts More Than Walking on Fire or Ice

Everything you wanted to know about the science and history of stomping on the toy blocks

Rake marks on humpback flukes may be literal tallies of battles won—like the scars seen on the upper right fluke fin here—but little is known about the losses.

New Research

With Humans Out of the Way, Humpbacks Are Flourishing—But So Are Orcas

Researchers are just now beginning to understand what happens when one whale species attacks another

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